Technicalities | 3-D in the picture

For decades, a lot of technological wonders that have becomeeveryday items have grown out of government research and programs.Examples include the Internet and any number of innovations spunoff from the space program. That’s likely to continue, butwe’re also seeing everyday gadgets and games become potentialtools for the government.

In February, we noted that a physics professor had built ahomegrown mini-supercomputer out of eight Cell Broadband Engineprocessors for Sony PlayStation 3 gaming consoles (GCN.com,GCN.com/1136). More recently, an Energy Department agency usedthe same kind of processors in building the world’s firstpetaflop supercomputer (GCN.com/1137).

Now, Infosys promises the ability to send 3-D video, games andother images to holographic handsets similar to cell phones.Infosys says the holographic handsets, which will be available intwo years, will be able to capture and send 3-D images withoutlosing resolution.

Chipsets in the devices would use algorithms called Fouriertransformations to build a 3-D image from a series of 2-D photos,according to online news outlet CNET.com.

Infosys likely will be looking for a lot of consumer use, butthe company also expects to target government and other officialusers. Anyone from building inspectors and accident investigatorsto emergency crews and doctors could find good uses for such atechnology. And they could play those dandy 3-D games duringdowntime.

About the Author

Kevin McCaney is editor of Defense Systems. Follow him on Twitter: @KevinMcCaney.